Virtual Prisoners
by Doug2
Summary: Phoebe is trapped by an adversary using the latest technology.


_Virtual Prisoners_

"You should find this fascinating. I've really gone far beyond the state-of-the-art of virtual reality. No longer just a game, it can be used to help the bed ridden and train for dangerous jobs," said Nick Hollywood a tall blond blue-eyed graduate student. He led Phoebe down into his basement lab where she found a large computer complex.

"Your equipment is very impressive, but then what exactly are you trying to do here?" asked Phoebes.

"Major changes in the quality, variety and adaptability of virtual reality simulations. It doesn't just show pre-programmed worlds, the world adapts itself as required by the operation. Virtual reality has been combined with artificial intelligence. Would you to try it, Phoebe?" asked Nick.

"OK! What do I do?" she said smiling at the handsome student.

"Come-on over to this booth. Put these goggles on. I have some kick boxing demos you might find interesting. I know you're into that," he smiled at her.

Phoebes came over to a silver lined booth and put on a pair of goggles she found like any other VR equipment. Phoebe was not yet impressed. "And now?" she asked looking at nothing shown through the goggles.

"One minute, Phoebe," said Nick as he fiddled with his controls, brought up a computer screened and entered some figures including the file name "Phoebe."

"OK, stand by. I'm activating it now!" he said with a gleam in his eye.

Static electricity lit up all around Phoebe. Something didn't seem right as she grabbed for the goggles. In a brilliant flash of light she vanished.

Nick ran over to the booth and picked up the goggles. In the VR world he was standing on a large one shade of green lawn with a cloudless blue-sky overhead. In front of him stood Phoebe looking very scared. She had been greatly reduced in detail and expression, but still looked more real than any existing video game. Phoebe saw Nick standing before her in similar detail.

"Hum, what is this place?" asked Phoebe. Her mouth merely moved up and down.

"Congratulations, Phoebe you are the first human ever analyzed, digitized and stored in a VR database. You are inside my computer. And I have completed control over you and your powers," he said chuckling.

"Powers?" asked Phoebe meekly.

"Oh, come on Phoebe. Everyone in our line of work KNOWS about the Charmed Ones and knows you're a witch. My methods are just more up to date than those ancient spell-casting warlocks. Here you are and here you'll stay for a very long time. You won't change, you won't age. Unless your data stream deteriorates with time. Can't say about that!" Nick said shrugging his VR shoulders.

"What are you doing this with me? I can't help you!" said Phoebe.

"No, but as long as I have your body, I have your powers. And I can use them and manipulate them as I want to. So enjoy your stay, Phoebe. If you're good, I can make your world much more comfortable. Be bad and this world can turn into HELL!" he said laughing as he pulled off the goggles and disappeared from Phoebe's view.

Back in the lab, Nick picked up Phoebe's purse and put it inside a chamber that resembled a microwave oven. After using his keyboard, the chamber lit up and pictures appeared on a monitor.

"Let's see what this premonition power can do," Nick mumbled to himself.

Pictures came up on the screen showing his computer room. Prue entered the room, looked at Nick and sent him flying. After securing him, she had him tell her how to release Phoebe. The image then faded.

"We can't have her rescue Phoebe. I must be ready for her," he thought to himself.

"So where is that irresponsible sister of ours? No calls, no notes, nothing? We were supposed to meet for dinner here tonight!" said Prue pacing up and down at P3.

"Relax. She probably got tied up at the library or something and completely lost tack of time. She's come a long way since she got back form New York Prue and is a lot more responsible. I even thought you would have noticed that!" Piper said cutely.

"Oh, Phoebes is doing fine. I just pushed off a big date tonight because she thought we should get together quietly by ourselves. No guys, no pressure, no evil threats. And here we are waiting on HER!"

"Um. Look. I'll get dinner served and she will probably show up before we finish our main course. Settle down girl. Nothing is wrong. I know so!" said Piper smiling at Prue and heading for the kitchen.

Prue just sat and fumed.

Piper was dead wrong. Phoebe was wandering around her VR landscape. No matter how far she walked, the view did not change. She called out and the words seemed to die immediately. The ground felt hard, but that was all she felt. No heart beat, no heat, no cold, no tiredness, no hunger. It was not unlike being dead, or so some friendly ghosts had told her. She couldn't even call up a premonition. All she could do is wait; wait until her jailer returned.

Piper came running out of the bathroom screaming, "AAAAAAAAAA! No hot water, no hot water! Did Phoebes use it all up?"

"Don't think so. Bed's not been slept in, no messages on the answering machine. Even if she spent the night with a girlfriend or guy, she usually calls. Here have a towel. You're making me cold now!" said Prue shivering slightly.

"Thanks! Now I am worried. Let's go and retrace her steps. I'll check with her friends, you head over to the university," suggested Piper.

"Uh, OK. I'm not due to city hall till noon," said Prue.

"And I'll check Phoebes' phone book. AFTER THE HOT WATER COMES BACK ON!" said Piper heading back into the shower.

"Hello, Phoebe," said Nick. Phoebe turned around very startled. "Did you have a good night?"

"Morning, all ready? I really have lost all concept of time here. Nothing is real." replied Phoebe.

"Exactly. Only your consciousness exists here. Everything else is a virtual realty simulation," explained Nick.

"And not a very good one at that! I look like some old faded photograph!" said Phoebes looking herself over for the fortieth time.

"True. But the details we can refine later. I need to know more about your powers if I'm going to use them and make them grow!" said Nick.

"You'll get no help from me!" said Phoebe defiantly.

"OH, I think I can compel you," he said winking at her. He made a gesture like he was typing in front of her and the ground opened up around her. She found herself falling for a long time. The earth was brown and jagged around her thought it kept repeating the scene. Finally she hit the ground hard and was back where she started in front of Nick. "Care to be more cooperative?" he asked.

"Ouch! That did hurt, though it wasn't like real falling. Well, I don't have a lot of control. I can see the future and past, but seldom when or what I want to. And..." explained Phoebe until an alarm went off.

"Ah, my expected visitor. We will continue this conversation later," said Nick as he vanished.

"Take you're time!" Phoebes cried up to the sky. "I sure am not going anywhere!"

Nick removed his goggles and stood behind the door as Prue stepped into the lab.

"Hello? Is anyone here? One of my sister's classmates said she saw...ufff!" cried out Prue as she got knocked in the head from behind.

"The object mover. I think my little computer doll would like some company!" he snickered.

He dragged Prue over to the same booth, typed in a file name of "Prue" and she vanished in a brilliant flash.

"Prue? Prue?" asked Phoebe as she came to in front of her sister.

"Oh, Phoebes? Where are we and why do you look like Ariel from The Little Mermaid?" asked Prue.

"Look at yourself!" suggested Phoebes with a gleam in her eye.

"What the hell?" Prue asked as she checked out her whole body.

"We are in the computer in some kind of VR simulation. Same old story with a new technological twist. Nick is a warlock after our powers! And unless we can be rescued, we're stuck in here literally forever." said Phoebes.

"Together?" asked Prue.

"Yep! Forever and ever!" agreed Phoebe.

That night Piper was behind the bar talking to Leo. "Both of my sisters just don't drop off the face of the earth. Whatever grabbed Phoebe must have Prue, too! Anything from your bosses?" asked Piper.

"Nothing! Like you said, they disappeared off the face..." said Leo.

"..of the earth. OK. Now do I go over to the university and disappear too? Got to learn from their mistakes. I sure could use some company Leo," said Piper looking up and smiling at him.

"Tomorrow. Tomorrow we'll both go find them," he said holding her tight.

"I sure hope so!" she said burying her head in him.

Bright and early the next day Piper and Leo hand in hand went across the campus quad.

"It's a big place! How can we find them?" asked Piper.

"It's a good bet that if they have two of the Charmed Ones, that they will probably find you!" suggested Leo.

"Whoa! So we're hunting and we're the hunted caught right in the middle of the food ch..." said Piper as she heard her name called.

A young dark haired student came running up to her.

"Ah. Angela, right?" asked Piper.

"Uh, huh! Did Prue find Phoebe yesterday? She missed all of her classes and I'm really worried about her!" said Angela.

"No. Where did you last she them?" asked a very curious Piper.

"I sent Prue over to the Physics Building to Nick Hollywood's lab to find Phoebe," explained Angela. 

"And that would be..?" asked Leo.

"Down this path, on the right. Basement door is in the back!" she said.

"Ummmm. I guess we should start there. Thanks, Angela." said Piper petting her side.

"Tell Phoebe she can borrow my notes!" called out Angela.

"I will if I can find her." Piper said quietly to Leo.

"At least we have a lead," said Leo.

"And to WHERE is it LEADing?" "quipped Piper.

In the computer lab, Nick was experimenting with the powers he had stolen from Phoebe. By adjusting its wavelengths and reaching out in different directions across the cosmic and mental dimensions, Nick could look at specific places in the pass, present and future.

"This could be a very nice spying tool. Warlocks would flock to me with the types of information I could provide. Imagined seeing anything anytime. This poor witch hadn't even started to expand the power usefully. Just hit and miss. How crude!" he said fiddling with his keyboard and not paying much attention. Whoosh, he was frozen solid standing at his terminal.

"Let's see what's going on in here. Cute guy! Leo, look. Prue and Phoebe's purses and Phoebe's books. They were here, but where?" asked Piper tapping her foot and looking around the room. She found the sliver lined booth and a set of goggled labeled "Phoebe."

"She may have used these," said Piper putting them on.

"Careful, darling!" said Leo.

"Oh, who could be safer than with a white lighter watching her rear," she smile turning around.

"Yes, watching your rear very closely," said Leo agreeing with his shapely girlfriend.

Piper looked into the virtual world and saw Prue and Piper slumped on the ground leading against each other.

"You think we could at least have a chair," huffed Prue.

"But we're not getting tired in here," Phoebes reminded her.

"No, but I do get bored just standing there endlessly," sighed Prue.

"Prue, Phoebe," they heard calling out from nowhere.

"Oh, God! Piper, Piper! Be careful! We're already trapped in here!" called out Phoebe.

"Don't worry. Dr. Frankenstein is stiff as a board. What about you guys?" asked Piper.

"Ah, we're OK as far as video game characters go. He placed me in a big silver tube and then I found myself here!" said Phoebe.

"WHOA!" cried out Piper.

There was silence for a minute.

"Piper! Piper!" cried out Prue.

"Ah, I was standing in that booth. Just moving, just in case. Now which button do I push to get you out of here?" asked Piper.

"You got me! I didn't see what he did to me!" said Phoebes.

"And I was OUT COLD!" explained Prue.

"There's a programmer at Western Data Net. I dated him a few months ago. Frankie Kleinman. He knows something about VR. Maybe he can help." suggested Phoebes.

"Leo find Frank Kleinman at Western Data Net and bring him here," said Piper.

"I'm on it!" said Leo as he orbed out.

"Uh, thanks and bye. Could have used a kiss right now. Leo left to get him!" Piper called out to her virtual sisters.

An hour later, Leo came back in with a youngish cute blonde guy.

"Where's Phoebes and what does she need with a computer engineer that's life and death?" Frank asked confused.

"Hi, I'm Piper, her sister," said Piper.

"Nice to meet you. What about him?" he asked pointing to the still frozen Nick.

"Hypnotic trance! Would you please put these goggles on?" asked Piper.

"Gladly. Interesting stuff!" he said as he saw the two sisters standing in their computer-generated world.

"Impressive. It sure looks like Phoebe," Frankie said.

"Frankie? Is that you? You have to get us out of here! We're trapped in here!" called out Phoebe.

"Wow, this is some game! Where are the controls? Hey, Phoebe, are you on another terminal. Your actions are so real," called out Frankie.

"No, Frank. They are literally trapped in the computer. They have been taken apart and stored somehow," said Piper.

"And we have to get them back!" explained Leo.

"I can't believe that! Matter conversion to disk space! That's impossible. That would be like magic!" explained Frank.

"Could be! Can you help us? It is life or death here!" said Piper anxiously.

"Well, let me look. This technology is a hundred times more complex than what I have seen. And this isn't my specialty either." Explained Frank. He sat down at the keyboard and started looking at the index. He did some serious looking for several minutes and then declared, "There are many files containing data for "Prue" and "Phoebe." If I delete any of the wrong ones, they might not come back. If I'm really fooling around with their lives, I need to be absolutely sure!"

"We need more information, Piper," said Leo as in pulled an electrical cord from the rear of an unused computer. He tied up Nick's hands; put a knife to his throat and Piper released him.

"Jeez! The other WITCH? Of all the luck!" cried out Nick.

"Witch?" asked Frank.

"Later, please. You will tell us how to release MY SISTERS!" Piper told him with a commanding presence.

"Never! I caught her and her power is mine!" Nick gloated.

"Then you sacrifice your life!" said Leo pushing the knife into his neck.

"Ha. No white lighter can do that. Not and stay in the light," said Nick sneering at him.

Piper said, "Fine. Then I guess the only left is... Hear me the spirits, from deep dark places. Remove this..."

"What are you doing?" said Nick now scared.

"Vanquishing you!" said Piper very flatly.

"And what about your sisters?" asked Nick nervously.

"We'll figure it out. I have no use for you!" said Piper dismissing him with her hand. "Hear me the spirits, from deep dark..."

"Wait! I'll help you!" he cried.

"Fine, what DO we DO?" she asked.

"Bring up the REVEX program." Nick explained as Frank followed his exact instructions. The silver lined booth glowed after several minutes, a brilliant flash occurred and Phoebes appeared standing there.

"I'M BA-ACK!" she screamed and ran over to Piper. "Oh, thank you, thank you, and thank you!" she continually repeated hugging Piper.

"Ah, Frank did all the work." Piper reminded Phoebes.

She planted a big kiss on him. "AND THANK YOU, FRANKIE!" she said with the sweetest expression yet.

"You're welcome. And all that hocus pocus stuff is real?" he asked puzzled.

"Yep! I'm one certified witch. And if you tell anyone, you'll probably be certifiable. I know I would be!" said Phoebes sweetly. "We'll let's get Prue!" said Phoebes as she bounced over to the goggle in the booth. "HELLO PRUE!"

"Phoebe. Did you make it?" Prue cried out to a disembodied voice.

"Sure did. Boy you make a cute cartoon character. Want to have a show on Saturday morning? PRUE, THE CARTOON WITCH!" teased Phoebes.

"Ah, Phoebe. I think Prue has had enough. Let's do her too," said Piper giving her sister some sisterly advice.

Several minutes later Prue stood in the same booth. She looked down and patted herself all over to convince herself that she was real.

"Inventory taken and everything there?" asked Phoebes.

"Yes, thank God!" said Prue looking to the heavens.

"She's not going to vanquish me, now that your free are you?" asked Nick.

"Piper is going to vanquish you?" asked Phoebe in a very cute voice. "Piper, you never made up a spell in your life!"

"Oh, I get it. You completely bluffed him!" said Prue "Very gutsy!"

"COOL!" exclaimed Phoebe.

"Thank you. At the moment we needed the leap of faith or a miracle or something!" said Piper.

"So I was..." asked Nick.

"Bested by just one third of the Charmed Ones. Hood winked, scammed, tricked, well you get the idea. And YOU we will have to be stripped of your powers or we will have to vanquish you. Without them, I bet you have a job making a useful product out of all of this technology. Or do you WANT to burn in hell, Nickie Boy?" asked Phoebes.

"I'll take my medicine and stay here," said Nickie reluctantly.

"Groovy. And without any bloodshed. Good adventure, my dear sisters." said Phoebes.

"And you saw the inside of a computer first hand." said Piper hugging Prue.

"I have had enough if that. But thank you everyone. Let's get this guy to ex-Warlock status as soon s possible, And FRANKIE, come and join the party!" said Phoebes.

Later as Prue was getting ready for her BIG date.

"I'm sure glad that Mike was forgiving for you canceling twice," said Phoebes. "Here try these ear rings."

"And we have one less warlock to worry about." said Piper. "The blue green shoes!"

"And we wouldn't be here without Piper." said Phoebes. "Thanks sis!"

"You're welcome. But don't forget about LEO and FRANK!" said Piper.

"Ah, I didn't. We're going to get some dinner tonight and I plan on erasing his memory about all of us. He's just too nice a guy to lay the whole wicked world on top of his own worries," said Phoebes.

"And beyond that?" asked Prue.

"We'll just see. But no more visits to mad scientists' labs. I'm going to be a straight liberal arts witch from now on. OK, guys?" said Phoebes.

"Um, yep!" said Piper.

"Absolutely" cried Prue as they did a group hug and Prue headed off to her date.

The Charmed Ones were together again.


End file.
